Had a ticking noise on my 2005 mustang gt.
Is this scratched cam lobe enough to warrant new cams? Or does it not matter since this engine uses roller lifters which would just roll right over the scratches anyway?
I would have replaced that cam while the valve cover was off.
It doesn’t look like a functional problem, provided the dimensions remain correct, but I wonder why it looks different than the other lobes? That’s sort of curious. Are you able to see the roller surface?
My guess is that the lifter adjacent to it was coincidentally the one that was stuck. Out of the 11 lifters it was the only stuck one
The stuck roller didn’t roll (well), so it slid on that lobe and scraped / wore it.
At least I’m assuming the roller was replaced on that lobe. If that isn’t the case, I’d be replacing that roller too.
Do you think the cam looks damaged to the point where the engines on borrowed time? Or could it run fine for a while with that amount of scratches in the photo?
I think it’ll be fine. The roller was replaced on that damaged lobe, correct?
I mean, it’s not ideal, and it’ll probably increase wear in the future to that lobe and roller somewhat. But I wouldn’t say it’s on borrowed time at all. I mean, what’s the worst case scenario? That roller needs replaced again down the road? That cam lobe wears down before the others? But how long is that going to take before it’s really an issue…60k more miles? 80k? The engine has 170k already. I imagine if you took it apart and looked at each bearing, cylinder bore, piston ring, etc, you’d probably find a few things with some wear on them. But that’s ok on an engine with 170k.
